CONTENT WARNING: Some readers may find images in this article distressing.
Little Coco was found lifeless in Tracy Caves’ garden shortly after 9am, less than an hour after the rescue cat had eaten its breakfast.
“We are absolutely heartbroken, our kids are in pieces,” Tracy told the Belfast Telegraph.
“We’ve had her for almost 14 years and she lost one of her legs in a car accident when she was six months old.
“We rescued her from Rainbow Rehoming centre in Derry and she’s been with us that entire time.”
Tracy said she had heard dogs outside her house early in the morning, and upon opening her front door, she saw two of the canines run past her property.
She lives in the Upperlands, a small rural area near Maghera.
“We live in the countryside, in the middle of nowhere,” the specialist florist explained.
“My brother, who lives next door, came up and said there were six dogs in his yard.
“At this stage, we didn't know that any of the cats had been harmed – we have four cats and five dogs.
“A friend of mine who is heavily involved in animal welfare said to check the animals [the cats had been outside].
“We went out and found one of the cats straight away, then my father found our wee Coco in the back garden dead.
“Our other two didn’t come back until around 3.30pm in the afternoon and they were badly shaken, so they must have been hiding all that time.”
Tracy believes the culprits to be a group of around six men who had reportedly been seen pitching a tent up two fields over from her property.
She said: “I confronted the owners, they were fox hunting.
“I think there were five Lurchers and a black Labrador, and the men were dressed head to toe in camouflage. There were about five or six men, with radios, and tracker collars on the dogs, but they had no control over them whatsoever.”
It is understood the men come from the Lurgan area and members of the local farming community have said they also had previous run-ins with the group of men in question.
“They’ve been on private property; all grounds belonging to us, my father, my brother, my neighbours and more,” Tracy continued.
“There’s at least six instances of trespassing. I really don't hold out much hope that the police will do anything though, to be honest.
“They weren’t with hounds and horses, they were taking the dogs around in an old Transit van and had a tent pitched up two fields away from us. They have apparently been seen lamping foxes and badgers at night, but this is the first run-in my family has had with them.
“I honestly thought it was illegal until the policeman I dealt with said it wasn’t – unless I physically saw their dogs kill my cat, but she was eating her breakfast at 8.30am this morning and by 9.15am she was dead.
“I’m absolutely disgusted.”
Tracy said that when she confronted two of the men she referenced, they were “dismissive and aggressive” towards her.
“They have scared me, to be honest.
“We foster dogs as well and one of our dogs is a chihuahua. We let her out to the garden every morning for an hour and if she had been there, she would have been ripped to shreds.”
In 2021, the NI Assembly rejected a bill which sought to ban hunting wild animals with dogs in Northern Ireland.
It is now the only part of the UK where the practice is still permitted.
The USPCA animal charity states: “Hunting dogs will kill any companion animals they come across and hunt members simply shrug off these incidents as ‘collateral casualties’.
“The farming community is surviving in economically challenging times; disease control in animals and crops is a priority. Many farmers, acutely aware of the need for bio-security, are less than happy at the hunt crossing their land and have banned them from their land.
“It is a priority to get a Hunting Bill before the Assembly and establish the depth of support for a ban that would bring us into line with our UK counterparts.”
The PSNI have been contacted for further comment.
